Jerry Lewis

By Mike Moore
C & G Sports Writer

When Jerry Lewis was a kid, he knew for sure what he wanted to be when he grew up — a professional baseball player.

There were some problems, however.

“Well, I wasn’t very big,” he said. “I never got that strong, and I couldn’t hit very well or field the ball.”

He described his baseball shortcomings with a laugh, refusing to take his shattered boyhood dreams too seriously. That’s because, in a way, he is living out his dream — every single day.

Though he may not be stealing second or belting a walk-off home run anytime soon, the West Bloomfield resident has a job that he loves, and it involves professional baseball.

After years of success in the business world, Lewis teamed up with good friend Jim Price, a former member of the Detroit Tigers and currently the team’s radio color commentator, to run the first of the now wildly popular Detroit Tigers Fantasy Baseball Camps in 1984.

“I had seen the Cubs do something similar in 1983, and just figured it was a great idea somebody had to run with,” Lewis said while running fantasy camps at the MLB All-Star game in New York. “We probably had about 85 people at the first camp. It was awesome.”

With the Tigers’ permission, and the help of some other former players, Lewis continued doing the camps until 1996, when he was officially hired by the organization as the director of fantasy camps.

“That was when I began living a fantasy every day,” Lewis recalled. “Only I got to call it work.”

In his 26 years of running the camps, Lewis said more than 50 former Tigers have participated and the campers have grown in number. Last year, 251 campers went to Lakeland, Fla., the spring training home of the Tigers, to spend days and nights playing and just plain hanging out with former Tigers.

“With the economy the way it is, for that many people to go was pretty special,” Lewis said, adding that 40 percent of those participating are return campers and more than a third come from out of state.

And the best part about his job is, well, the job itself.

“I get to drive into Comerica Park every day for work,” Lewis said.

“I get to work with some amazing people. I’ve met so many of my heroes and even interact a little bit with today’s players. I was at the World Series (in 2006) and even got (an American League Championship Series) ring. … I may not have made the pros as a player, but I’m truly living a dream now.”

You can reach Sports Writer Mike Moore at mmoore@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1038.